Railway for cash and parcel carriers



(No Model.)

G. F. GREEN.

RAILWAY FOR CASH AND PARUELCA RRIERS.

No. 390,293. Patented Oct. 2, 1888 .7 74, %@Z%W M1 GEORGE F. GREEN, OF KALAllIAZOO, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF T\VO-THIRDS TO OLIVER S. KELLEY OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

RAILWAY FOR CASH AND PARCEL CARRIERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 390,293, dated October 2, 1888.

' Application filed October 1, 1887. Serial No. 261,228. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. GREEN, of Kalamazoo, in the county of Kalamazoo and State of Michigan, have invented new and y useful Improvements in Electric and other Mechanical Cash and Parcel Carriers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and accurate description of the same.

This improvement has special reference to electric caslrcarriers, but is equally applicable to carriers otherwise operated, though the necessity is less, because the length of line is limited with any system of propulsion other than electric.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a part of the railway with a car thereon. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation showing a modification.

The object of this improvement is to prevent the noise attending the passage of the car at a considerable speed over a track suspended from the wall or ceiling. The length of the track which may be traversed by a cash or parcel car propelled by electricity is unlimited. It may traverse the whole area of the largest store, and, ifdesirable, may be extended beyond the same indefinitely. The track is usually suspended from the ceiling or supported on brackets projecting from the 0 wall. The track is necessarily of metal, to secure proper rigidity without being unsightly, and the wheels are also necessarily of metal, because the electric current is conveyed from the generator to the motor by way of the rails. The passage of the car along the metallic track sets up vibrations therein, which are augmented with every revolution of the wheels, because their revolutions occur with complete uniformity of rate. 40 These vibrations are transmitted through the entire structure and to the walls of the room, so that a mass of sound is given out which is unpleasant and objectionable. I have studied the cause and remedies for this, and I have discovered that the only practical remedy is such disconnection of the several parts of the track and its supports that the sound-vibra tions. generated at one point will not be propagated to the next member of the structure,

and thereby the sounds generated will be confined to the vicinity of the point of origin, and will be feeble in proportion to the circumscribed area of production, at the same time preserving an electric contact between the different members of the track of such efficiency that the track may always be relied upon to transmit the electrical driving-cur rent with certainty and freedom. I there fore place between each fish plate A and the rail B, to which it is attached, a piece of some material which has the property of taking up vibrations. Fibrous material, like felt and cloth, has this property; but indiarnbher is most effective, and I therefore have employed strips of thin sheet-rubber, D, which I place between the fish-plate and the rail, being careful that the metal of the fish-plate shall not at any point touch the metal of the rail. It is also necessary to be careful that the end of one rail does not touch the end of the adjoining rail, because if they do touch sound-vibrations will be propagated from one rail to the other.

It is well to interpose apiece of rubber be tween the rail ends; but this is not essential if they are separated by a little space.

The fastenings from rail to fish-plate may be with screws or rivets of copper, that being a non-sonorous metal, and the electrical conduction will then be rendered complete.

The same method of interruption of sound vibrations is employed in all the joints of the structure, and in that way the propagation of sound-waves from one member to another is prevented and the passage of the car is ren- (lered practically noiseless.

In Fig. 1. the track is represented as sus pended from the ceiling by means of a rod, 6, the lower end of which is insulated from. the yoke gby means of india-rubbc-r sleeve D, or 0 other elastic insulator which will arrest vibrations.

In Fig. 2 the track is represented as suspended on brackets h,projectin g from the wall, and the same method of insulation is applied. 5

Having described my invention, I claim- In a railway for electric cash and parcel carriers, the combination,with the tracksupporting hanger, of the bracket 9, the interposed ening devices of conducting material uniting insulating and non-vibratory material D, the the ends of said rails and the fish-plate, subrails B, separated from each other and supstantially as set forth.

ported by said bracket, the conducting fish- GEORGE F. GREEN. plates A, the interposed non-vibratory mate- Vitnesses:

rial D between said fish-plate and the adja- ED. C. PARSONS,

cent but separated ends of the rails, and fast BEACH A. HALL. 

